56 



ONCIDIUM. 



On. loxense. 



Pseudo-bulbs ovoid, 4—5 inches long, monophyllous. Leaves narrowly 

 lanceolate, 9 — 15 inches long and 1^ — 2 inches broad. Scapes straggling, 

 3| — 5 feet long. Flowers distant, 3 inches in diameter; sepals shortly 

 clawed, the lateral two free, oval-oblong, obtuse, undulate with a pro- 

 minent keel behind, cinnamon-brown barred with light yellow ; petals 

 similar but broader and less prominently keeled behind, bright olive- 

 brown with a few scattered yellow, transverse markings ; lip coriaceous, 

 transversely and broadly oblong, obscurely apiculate and with two minute 

 auricles near the base of the rather broad claw, bright orange-yellow, 

 paler on the disk ; crest a fleshy protuberance with four shallow plates 

 behind and a raised median fringed plate in front, on each side of which 

 are numerous bristles springing from the protuberance. 



Oncidium loxense, Lindl. in Paxton's Fl. Gard. II. p. 126 (1852^. Id. Fol. Orch. 

 Oncid. No. 21. Kchb. in Gard. Chron. XXII. (1884), pp. 584 and 616. Williams' 

 Orch. Alb. X. t. 439. 



Oncidium loxense. 



One of the finest of Oncidiums, and at the same time one whose 

 botanical history is of the briefest description. 



It was originally discovered in 1842 near Loxa, in Ecuador, by 

 Hartweg, who found but a single plant with a panicle nine feet 

 long. Many years afterwards Messrs. Backhouse, of York, obtained 

 a coloured sketch prepared by their correspondent Dr. Krause ; * 

 and lastly in 1883 it was rediscovered by Edward Klaboch, who 

 sent plants to Messrs. Sander and Co., of St. Albans, and these 



* Fide Reichenbach in Gard. Chron. XXII. (1884), p. 584. 



